1. One Book That Changed Your Life
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I inhaled that book while all my classmates bitterly complained about the unjust educational system that forced them to read it. I also discussed it excitedly with my teacher who kept checking her book of Cliff’s Notes to see if I was right. I knew about then that I was a literary geek and would have to seek out my own kind.
2. One Book You Have Read More Than Once
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet. It’s just an incredibly good read. Fast-paced story and diction to lust after.
3. One Book You Would Want on a Desert Island
I hate stupid desert island questions. I’m always slightly insulted by the implication that I would ever put myself in the sort of situation where I could be marooned. Then there’s the immediate reaction to list some sort of survival guide or ship building reference book, which isn’t the point of the question I suppose. But if I must…the Oxford English Dictionary. You either know why or you don’t. I’ve decided to be too oblique to ‘splain it to you.
4. One Book That Made You Laugh
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams. The precursor, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, also made me giggle but somehow The Long Dark… was just better. The disapproving soda machine, the clean sheets, the bit about the refrigerator, oh my.
5. One Book That Made You Cry
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling. Like a baby. Over an elf’s socks. I am such a geek. (There are others, of course, but this is the one that leapt to mind. Damn that J. K.!)
6. One Book You Wish Had Been Written
Errr. Hmm. Well…I still haven’t found a satisfying Tarot card instructional.
7. One Book You Wish Had Never Been Written
Anything dune-esque after Dune by Frank Herbert. Dune was so crazy brilliant nothing can help to shine as bright. Frank’s sequels could compare, but I hated what he did to the characters. The ridiculous series that continues to spawn in its name I refuse to even consider.
8. One Book You are Currently Reading
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I know, I know, it’s fairly ubiquitous right now, isn’t it? It’s also entertaining and funny. (And her constant asides to make sardonic comments about her own writing gives me much hope for my authorial career.)
9. One Book You Have Been Meaning to Read
Ha. So I buy books much faster than I read them. Also, I receive books faster than I read them. I have a little over two shelves of books to be read. I also have a to-buy-to-read-later list. Not a complaint, just how it goes. On deck, The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (though my booklist is subject to change without notice). The prevalence of sci-fi fantasy on this list has suddenly made me shy. Hasn’t it always been thus?
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Under the bones of the sky she splinters into inadequate words
4 comments:
Thanks for jumping in:
1. Took me a long time to come around to CD (high school did not do it), but a couple of years ago, I couldn't get enough of him (and then there was PBS' Bleak House to boot).
2. Used to re-read the Raymond Chandlers. I suspect you Hammet folk think that RC is a little weak.
3. What the hell is a "desert" "island" anyway? I hope you're carting off the multi-volumed OED. I can't read the 2 volume condensed without the magnifying glass that comes with it; just my luck, that desert sun would burn the pages through the glass. You're gonna need a mule (a camel?) for the books.
4. I'll have to have a look-see.
5. Not there yet. Mr Baby is reading #6 right now. I'd say we'll get there in May.
6. Yes'm.
7. The McMurtry syndrome. Done wrote my masterpiece! What the hell else am I supposed to do now?
8. Tina loved this one. So did, I believe, Lady Nefarious.
9. Pullman is certainly a revelation. Dude is serious.
1. Yeah, ToTC is the only Dickens that I think I would read again. I still have an urge to slap just about all the characters in Great Expectations.
2. I can go with Mr. Chandler. I come from a dynasty of mystery readers, so if it has a dead body, we’ll probably read it. I must confess I like mine a bit more pulpy. Check out Mr. Hamment’s The Dain Curse if you want to go truly lurid - cults, bombs, and of course cursing.
3. I think we need to find ourselves a dessert island with a fully stocked library.
4. Ohmygodyouhavetoreadthesebookstheyaresoooooooogood!!!
5. Stick with them, the long haul is worth it. J.K. gets me every time (durn her), but they’re good yarns.
9. Yeah, as often happens, I saw the movie and knew that somewhere existed a much better book. I’m looking forward to it. I mean talking warrior polar bears -- I’m totally there.
I added a few of yours to my to-be-read list so I should get to them in a few years. Fun. :-d
The Adams books are waiting for me at the biblioteca.
The Adams books are waiting for me at the biblioteca.
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